ENARADA, New Delhi, October 17, 2014
The Sino-Indian relations appears to be blowing hot and cold for even as the two countries began two-day talks to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border, Home Minister Rajnath Singh took a tough stance responding to the Chinese reaction on road construction along the border in Arunachal Pradesh.
With the two countries sharing a border of 3,488 kms, there has been faceoffs specially during the high level visits to India of Chinese leaders with the last standoff in Ladakh coinciding with the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping which went on for almost a fortnight.
These standoffs were signals from the Chinese side that the visits by the top Chinese leaders are not an indication that the long standing issues like the border can be resolved overnight.
The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on the India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) set up in 2012 had talks for two days from October 16 which was the first since the new government took charge in New Delhi.
As analysts said that the mechanism may help to keep tempers cool but the border dispute would not be resolved so soon and as one analyst was asked recently at an informal meeting “when do you see the border issue being resolved,” replied cryptically “your son can ask me the question after 40 years and my answer would be the same which is the status quo would remain.”
Among the major factors that hampers the early resolution of the border dispute with China is the difference in perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the two countries.
This is one of the major factors that often leads to incursions which invariably takes from both sides except that the Chinese incursion becomes more glaring in view of the long standoffs as it happened in Chumar in Ladakh where the Chinese forces stayed for almost a fortnight coinciding with the visit to India by President Xi Jinping.
Just a year ago in 2013, prior to the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang to India from May 19 to 21, about 50 Chinese soldiers had pitched tents in the Depsang Plains in Ladakh and remained for about a week before finally withdrawing.
These intrusions by Chinese into Indian territory in the course of visits by high Chinese leaders were to give signals to the Indian side that everything is not as smooth as it is made out.
Another factor attributed to the border dispute not being resolved is the massive territory which is with the Chinese in Ladakh namely the Aksai Chin where the Chinese have built a 933 km road linking Kashgarh in Xinjiang to Rudok in Western Tibet.
Coupled with this, the Chinese laying claim to a huge chunk in Arunachal Pradesh and as analysts said the Chinese want to have exchange of territory and ironically both belong to India and so the stalemate.
However, there is view that the meeting of the WMCC to ensure peace on the border and check standoffs that have been occurring frequently between the two sides.
As for the charge by Chinese side that Indian troops tail the Chinese on the border, top officials explained that it is just that the Indian troops follow the Chinese to ensure that there is no incursion into Indian territory along the LAC.
Both sides do of course admit that there is difference in perception as far as the LAC is concerned though it is only in the Ladakh side that the matter comes to a head since the area is more exposed to media coverage whereas in other places specially in Arunachal Pradesh, the terrain is such that neither side can really enter the other side.
The two meeting of the WMCC discussed a wide range of issues to work out a mechanism whereby peace and tranquility can be maintained on the border though just a few days ahead of the meeting of WMCC, the Chinese had taken strong exception to the construction of roads upto the border in Arunachal Pradesh with the Chinese Foreign Office spokesperson Hong Lie stating in Beijing that “there is a dispute about the eastern part of the China-India border. Before final settlement is reached we hope that India will not take any action that may further complicate the situation.”
The Chinese government had conveyed this view to the Indian side at the meeting of the WMCC stating that India will not take any action which may complicate the situation before a final settlement is reached to end the boundary dispute.
The Indian side told the Chinese that it attaches utmost importance to the incursions that had taken place in Demchok and Chumar in Ladakh lasting over three week and had in fact made the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring it to the attention of the Chinese President Xi during his visit to this country.
Prime Minister Modi had expressed “serious concerns” over the repeated incidents along the border and sought an early settlement of the boundary question.
